Extended Team Model – Just the right thing you were looking for!

I want the deliveries at the decided time frame and within the set quality SLAs. Any delays is going to cost me big time and so will your company…” Aren’t these words very familiar? If you are in software industry and these do not strike a note with you then probably you are so used to them that they don’t amuse you anymore. But majority of people would say that yes these they are not only familiar with those words but they are a part and parcel of daily routine for project teams.

This situation is not for no reasons. There is increase in competition list like never before and this competition increases by each passing day. Then there is scarcity of quality resources, then there is problem of increasing resource costs and yes of course the cost of indirect expenses (the overheads) and at last, the concern which will first biggest concern for Operations/PMO/Team Managers… “Do we have anything in pipeline to keep the new resources busy post their current assignment?”

How to make quality deliveries with so many constraints is THE question which fast becoming a big dark monster that haunts all authorities who are at the helm.

With these conditions, getting new business, at times does not let smile of getting new business stay on face for long.

So, with this, another question; a desperate one, raises its head; “Is there any solution to this?”

Well, there is a certainly a solution which can tide over the problems and sail you to success. The solution comes in the form of a model – The Extended Team Model!

The Extended Team Model comprises of extending your existing team with professionals. These are not just IT people with some work experience but specialists who are well qualified, highly experienced and people who have proved themselves. It means that adding a shot in your arms with the help of people who have a full-fledge system to fall back on. A system which has a comprehensive knowledge repository, panel of best in the industry experts for guidance and a system which takes care of all the administration related activities.

Go through the following points to know more about the model:

• Reduced overall management burden while retaining control of strategic decision
• Savings in terms of
  • Manpower and training
  • Cost of chasing technology
  • Cost of retaining people post completion of assignment
  • Cost of having members on payroll
• Focus on core activities / business:
  • Re-direct or focus energy and personnel into the core business
  • Focus on resources on mission critical projects
• Leverage the ETM model to obtain operational excellence:
  • Get access to operational best practice that would be difficult or time consuming to develop in-house.
  • Benefit from the expertise of ETM partner in solving problems for a variety of clients with similar requirements.
  • Obtain needed project management and implementation consulting expertise
  • Leverage the partner’s extensive investments in technology, methodologies and people
  • Save on team management problems as partner will be manage the team who does your work
  • Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills.
  • Acceleration of the development through the additional capability brought by the ETM partner
• Spread risks using ETM:
  • Best way to manage some types of risks is to tie-up with a partner who is better able to provide the mitigation.
  • Reduce the risk of technological obsolescence
  • Avoid risk of managing the team members working on the project. Level out cyclical or seasonal fluctuations.
  • Eliminate peak staffing problems

So as you can see, Extended Team Model can be just the right solution which helps you address the issues on hands and help you re-focus on avenues of growth.

There are certainly pitfalls in this model, as will be the case in any other model. But with a correct partner, those pitfalls would be as easy to dodge as in case of dodge ball game. So get going and find your ETM partner.